Berlin: Tactical Tech public screening of ONO - learn with robot how to understand and minimize risks of using new technologies

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 22 November, 2010 - 12:17

If you are in Berlin and able to get to this event, I strongly recommend you do so! Especially for people working on sensitive issues, ONO the robot viewing parties offer an important opportunity to learn and discuss how to strategically use mobile phones, Twitter, email, Facebook etc. It is also possible to organize your own ONO screening party in your own community and download the films from onorobot.org to watch on your own. If you do, please let us know here how it goes!

ONO in Berlin (and on TV)

crossposted from: http://www.onorobot.org/screening/957

Screening date and time: 22 November 2010
Link to screening partner: Betahaus

Location

Betahaus - Open Design City
Prinzessinnenstraße 19-20

Berlin 10969

Germany
See map: Google Maps

Join Tactical Tech and ONO at this party. All four films will be screened, there'll be drinks, an informal discussion about digital security and privacy issues as well as some limited edition ONO merchandise. Last but not least, some crew from Deutche Welle TV will be there finding out about ONO.

Don't let your email account fall into the hands of scammers

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 17 November, 2010 - 11:54

Last month I warned about scam messages from known contacts urgently requesting money. The case that prompted that post has now thankfully been resolved and everyone who received the messages acted with the appropriate caution and it appears nobody lost money. Kofi Odum, a Kabissa member in Ghana, has given me permission to post the message he sent to all of his contacts after Yahoo!

What will be the impact on the work of African civil society of the new @facebook.com email service?

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 14 November, 2010 - 14:05

I just read the Guardian Tech post Facebook set to launch 'Gmail killer' email system, excerpted below, about a new @facebook.com email service apparently slated to launch tomorrow. I think it's important for people working in African civil society to reflect carefully about what this means about how we all will be using Facebook and the Internet for work and play.

I like Facebook, but it is not a central tool for me or for Kabissa, and I use it despite serious concerns I have had all along about privacy on the service. I've blogged about my concerns about privacy and security issues on Facebook here and here, which have not yet really been addressed to my satisfaction. I am seriously concerned for activists who may be put in danger through unwittingly sharing their personal data and activities on Facebook. This feeling was not helped today when I also read a TechCrunch post How To Mass Export All Of Your Facebook Friends’ Private Email Addresses - which Facebook does not actually allow you to do but which apparently can be done easily using Yahoo email.  

What do you think? Is it a good thing that Facebook is positioning itself to be the only place that we all go to when we get online to get our work done as well as stay connected with friends and colleagues? 

Don't fall for scam messages like this from people you know - "URGENT: I need your Support!!!"

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 8 October, 2010 - 09:20

I can't believe that these types of scam messages are still circulating and making it through my Google Mail spam filters - but they are dangerous if you fall for them. They typically come from people you know and share the same hallmarks - see the example I received from a trusted Kabissa member below. The You can learn more about Internet Fraud at Wikipedia. You can make sure you know how to fight Phishing by taking the PayPal Fight Fishing Challenge, or About.com has multiple phishing explanation pages. 

The best thing to do is contact your friend via another channel if you can and let them know their email address has been hacked - while you're at it you can ask if your friend really is in need of help. :) If you are certain that you have received a scam message, you should also report it to the email provider - in my case it came from a friend using Yahoo mail, so I used the Yahoo Abuse form to report it. 

Email discussion lists in Kabissa Groups working great - I am now beginning to encourage wider use on Kabissa

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 6 October, 2010 - 11:23

After two weeks of testing email discussions in Kabissa groups with only positive results, I have now made some changes to start encouraging Kabissa members to start using it more actively to connect, share information and help one another - directly by email. Please give me your feedback!

From now on, when members join groups at signup or via the groups directory, they now automatically start receiving new posts by email - and their replies to posts are distributed to all other subscribers and added to the site as comments.

Bring Web 2.0 to your email with WiseStamp extension for Chrome or Firefox

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 11 July, 2010 - 14:26

Update 1 September: I uninstalled @wisestamp because they added a cumbersome link on the Google Mail menu that displays popup updates from Wise Stamp. I remain impressed by the app and will miss it, but don't want to have my email experience cluttered with apps. I've have had a good correspondence with their support team, but I don't like the direction they are going - what if all the google mail extensions I use added an item to the menu and popus? No thanks. I will only reinstall if they provide an option to disable the alerts and menu. What are your views? Alternative apps for this purpose? I welcome comments.

I just installed the WiseStamp Chrome browser plugin and am impressed! Read on to see a screenshot of the signature I created for my Kabissa mail on Google Apps and lessons I learned setting it up. Not only do signatures look attractive, but they can include the latest content from Twitter or any RSS Feed which is really quite neat.

Dada Mail turns 10 in 2010, releases new version

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 3 December, 2009 - 11:14

I was pleased to receive the announcement below regarding the release of the latest version of Dada Mail, a powerful listserv tool. It's free software that is fairly easy to install on a traditional server supporting the Perl programming language, and very easy to use once installed. I've always been a big fan, not least "Since Justin is an Artist, he has decided that Dada Mail is an Art Object." Check out the Dadamail Manifesto for more details about what Dada Mail can do and how it can be viewed as an art object.

We always resisted implementing Dada Mail for Kabissa because we wanted to create an integrated community platform, which we were able to do with Drupal. This doesn't mean it can't be a perfect email companion to your website.

Dear Mimi: Save time and money with Google-powered email, IM and calendar

Kabissa has begun encouraging members to switch their email to Google Apps, so Mimi has decided to devote this month's Internet Advice column to share Google's own comprehensive explanation of its services. The text is business oriented but the benefits for civil society groups in the Kabissa network are mostly the same if not even greater since many of us operate on a shoestring budget or do not have in-house computing systems and staff to run them. If you can, watch the videos linked below to view Google Apps in action. 

When considering Google Apps, keep in mind that Google Apps Standard Edition is free for anyone (expect unobtrusive text-based advertising) and that Google Apps Educational Edition (no advertising, more features including email migration tools) is free for nonprofits registered with 501(c)3 status in the United States. All you need is a domain name, which you can register at Kabissa and which we will gladly help you set up at Google Apps. We will be formally launching our new domain registrar service soon, but in the meantime existing hosting members can switch to Google Apps immediately - please contact support@kabissa.org for more information.

Trip down memory lane: www4mail support suspended in January 2008

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 8 April, 2008 - 20:05

www4mail logoI was pleased to get the PingER update from the University of Trieste - it was the first time I had heard from PingER since 2002, when it was presented at the eJDS Open Round Table on "Developing Country Access to On-Line Scientific Publishing: Sustainable Alternatives". I was there talking about (and hoping to breathe life into) the www4mail tool, and am pleased my www4mail presentation (PPT) is still up on their website! www4mail was developed at the University of Trieste and for a time there were a few really good servers running including ours at Kabissa and another at Bellanet in Canada. These servers played a critical role for a time, enabling people with limited access to the web to request web pages to be sent to them by email.

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